My Friend The Cinnabar

I welcome the sight of a non-native friend who shows up right when needed. The cinnabar moth was introduced to Oregon for its appetite. Particularly the appetite for a noxious weed, tansy ragwort.

According to Oregon State University;

Cinnabar moths, Tyria jacobaeae, were released in Oregon to control the noxious exotic weed, tansy ragwort, Senecio jacobaea. Tansy ragwort showed up in the Portland area in 1922 and spread throughout the state. Livestock and deer that graze on tansy ragwort may suffer fatal liver failure. The economic losses due to livestock feeding on tansy ragwort can be quite high, in the millions of dollars.

In 1976, the Oregon Department of Agriculture declared tansy ragwort a noxious weed. In the meantime, researchers, led by OSU’s Peter McEvoy, were searching the original home of tansy ragwort, Europe, for biological control agents. Cinnabar moth was one of three natural enemies released to control the weed. It was first released in the 60’s with additional releases thereafter. The grayish-black moths with red patches on the wings established and provide biological control of this weed. The moths lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves of tansy during the late spring. Soon small orange and black caterpillars hatch from the eggs. They feed first on the lower side of the leaves on which the eggs were laid, then move onto the developing flower buds and leaves. They pupate on the ground in the leaf litter. There is one generation a year.

It’s hard to believe these little moths have been around Oregon for 60 years, doing their job controlling a weed that can kill livestock indiscriminately.  The introduction of the cinnabar moth as biological control is considered a success even though sometimes the species also attack an Oregon native plant called arrowleaf groundsel. The groundsel is one of those plants that can be incorrectly identified as tansy by humans because it has many similar properties.

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